Product Description

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
nikos ploumakis
a Casual Listener

Date Reviewed: October 26, 2001

Bottom Line:

This is the best amp i've ever used. The sound comes out from this lovely machine like thick velvet, sweet & smooth.The lack of power at extreme high levels of volume is not a weakness for me. It is strongle recomended to anyone wants to buy an int-amp within this price range.

A genuinely great sounding amplifier, with smooth yet detailed sound, good focus, and nice top-to-bottom tonal characteristics.Bass is well controlled, and will only exibit poor control if set up with a speaker with very low impedance in the bass region (e.g. B&W 801 Nautilus).High flexibilty; can also be used purely as a pre or power amplifier too. Great fit and finish completes the package.Highly recommended if you are looking for an integrated in this price range, be it tube or solidstate that interests you most.Five stars for value as it is the best sounding amplifier at it's price.

I've had 2 years with this little integrated and gone through all the necessary doubts and uncertainties as to if it should remain in my system. This was an initial purchase and since them I have added in a Rega 25 table with Benz Glider cartridge and Target wallmount, an Audio Analogue CD player, a vintage Kenwood 600T tuner, mostly Cardas wire all around and Monster power conditioning. Right now I'm running Mirage OM10 speakers which I got for a song. I've also made another recent purchase I will explain later. A speaker upgrade also seems to be in my future.While going through all this acquisition, I have obviously spent a considerable amount of time going in and out of audio salons, reading the mags, hooking up with audio buddies, going to live concerts, buying software including new and used vinyl, attending record shows, etc. Basically becoming a died in the wool novice audio geek.Through all this, my Anthem amp has survived the analysis, doubt, second thinking and comparison.I've read some of the luke warm review materials and re-read them. Obtained comments and observations from near and far, friends and salespeople and anyone else who cared to talk to me or listen to my system. But what I've done more than anything else is listen to music throught this piece. And so far, I'm still committed to this integrated. I think that says something to me anyhow.I've brought theMusical Fidelity integrated home and almost fell for a Celeste W3 which I thought I might run with the pre on the Anthem. I'm sure that would have sounded good, but money talks right. Bottom line, this is a quality piece. I read with interest in this section the advice from Sei-Young Jang and may consider some of the tweaks he recommended. Also, the binding posts really suck and I plan to switch to Cardas soon. Bottom line, if you can find one used under $700, it's a good buy. Better yet if it's under $600. I understand most of them sold in Asia, so there probably aren't tons around. Don't worry about the power. This thing actually cranks about 40 tube watts, and anyone with a little knowledge knows that converts 3 to 4 times to solid state. Even at a way too conservative 2x, you still are running 80 watts per. I'm an analogue guy, so I didn't find the Integrated phono stage could continue to meet my needs. I recently purchased an Anthem Pre 1P stage to better match my table and moving coil cartridge. That was a nice addition. And as you can see, I had enough confidence to buy Anthem again. My plans for the future. If I can't buy it used, I ain't getting it. Have fun!

I'd just like to say to anyone who owns this unit, and is'ntpleased with the bass performance, try a set of audio research tube dampers on all the preamp tubes. The're only$5per set (you use two per tube), they have really helped-better performance overall, bigger, tighter bass. Also, this may sound crazy, but have your selector switch cleaned by an experienced technician, preferably by your dealer. My dealer used Napa Brako brake parts cleaner (in a spray can)to clean it, then used Pro Gold to improve the contact. My sound was transformed. Much more revealing. Good Luck.

I'd just like to say to anyone who owns this unit, and is'ntpleased with the bass performance, try a set of audio research tube dampers on the preamp tubes. The're only $5per set (you use two per tube), they have really helped-better performance overall. Much more revealing. Good Luck.

Ok, please bear with me... I'm in the very very very slow process of rebuilding my 2 channel setup... so I'm looking for components to audition over the next few weeks/months..... though I was originally considering a Krell KAV400xi or NAD Masters M3, I decided it was best to lower my budget (I'm to ... Read More »

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I have a 2 channel integrated receiver
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